Children's Home run by Bristol City Council in Bristol

Unique reference number SC034184 Inspection date 08/10/2012 Inspector Diana Waters Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 12/03/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is one of a number of children's homes operated by a local authority. The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people of either sex. The purpose of the home is to provide young people with life and social skills to enable independent living.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides young people with a good standard of care. The leadership of the home is good and is committed to achieving the best outcomes for each young person. The care each young person receives focuses on their individual needs and abilities. Staff are effective in implementing the home’s personalised care plans that support each young person to make positive changes in their lives and enhance their skills.

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Overall effectiveness

Safeguarding practices are good. The home works in partnership with relevant agencies and young people’s families to keep young people safe. Young people benefit from health promotion, educational and preparation for independent living provided by the home. Recruitment and selection processes have improved. The organisation’s vetting procedures helps prevent the employment of unsuitable people to look after young people the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The young people benefit from regular consultation and work undertaken with families and relevant professionals enhances the quality of care young people receive. Young people’s views influence the home’s development, helping young people to feel valued and listened to, and develop their negotiating skills.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people form sound relationships with the experienced and stable staff team and the Registered Manager. They are satisfied with the quality of care that they receive. Social workers also report that they are satisfied with the standard of care. The home provides a safe, clean and comfortable environment for young people to live in, however young peoples' own rooms and some external areas would benefit from closer attention.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 provide a comfortable and homely environment, specifically individual bedrooms and some external areas, are well maintained and decorated. (NMS 10)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people receive the care that they need to meet their individual needs. Staff recognise and have a good understanding of each young person’s individuality and abilities. This awareness and personalised care supports young people in their development. Young people are making good progress in many areas of their lives. Young people’s self-esteem is improving as they acknowledge and take pride in their progress.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff support young people to think about their past and their current behaviour. This work helps individuals to gain a better understanding of their feelings and actions and young people begin to make positive choices in their lives. Young people are supported to reflect on their actions and they develop confidence and self- esteem from the good decisions they are learning to make.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people take part in a range of community activities. These opportunities help them to develop their individual interests and to make and sustain friendships and develop their social skills outside of the home’s environment.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people know about health risks and are helped to keep themselves healthy. Some young people are able to access specialist support to reduce dependencies. Young people have access to local facilities and are encouraged to increase their level of physical exercise. Young people who are self-catering on their independence skills training programme, eat a varied diet.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The home’s independent living programme supports young people to learn practical living skills. Young people learn: how to budget, manage money, cook, clean, undertake some household maintenance, and participate in some decorating and gardening tasks. Young people are developing into confident young adults as they move towards independence. Some young people whose behaviour puts them at risk of harm, have significantly reduced the frequency of such behaviours. Staff endeavour to support young people to make wise choices and promote safe behaviour. However, some young people continue to engage in risk taking behaviours.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff encourage and support young people to attend school or college regularly and attendance levels are generally good. This contributes to some young people being able to take advantage of the variety of further education and work based courses on offer. Young people benefit from the help they receive from staff and the education service.

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Quality of care

Staff provide stability for the young people they look after and the excellent support they provide is making a positive difference in young people’s lives. The strong relationships established between the staff team and most young people in placement helps young people to develop their trust in adults and reduce risk taking. The home is generally a positive environment and young people thrive on the individualised attention they receive from staff.

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Quality of care

The home implements care plans that focus on meeting the individual needs of each young person. The manager regularly reviews and revises plans and care practices to ensure the home is supporting young people to develop and make progress. Staff are skilled in finding the most appropriate way to support each young person to fulfil their potential and staff work collaboratively with other professionals to secure positive outcomes for young people. Staff demonstrate good ability in supporting young people to successfully develop their independent living skills.

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Quality of care

The home provides a healthy environment for young people to live in. Staff teach and support young people to adopt healthy lifestyles and encourage young people to engage with the appropriate health services.

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Quality of care

Staff encourage and support young people to maintain regular attendance at school or college. The home liaise with the educational service to help young people in their educational achievements and to identify alternative learning opportunities.

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Quality of care

The home tries hard to engage young people in the consultation processes. Young people contribute to the development of the home and their views are taken into account in the daily running of the home. Young people are listened to and they feel valued when they see the outcome of their involvement.

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Quality of care

The home provides a comfortable family-style environment where young people feel at home. Young people have their own bedrooms which are usually kept locked and access with their own keys.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people feel safe and they are kept safe by the home’s safeguarding practice. The home establishes working partnerships with placing social workers and relevant agencies. This ensures that plans and strategies are in place to minimise the risk of harm to young people. Good plans and risk assessments support young people to take age appropriate risks as a part of their personal and social development.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff have a very good understanding of each young person’s needs and vulnerabilities and they know how to respond appropriately to promote young people’s welfare and protect them. Staff discuss each incident with young people. This helps individual young people to consider how their choice of behaviour may compromise their own well-being. When bullying occurs within the home, the matter is taken seriously and it is promptly and sensitively dealt with. Staff vigilance and good team working reduces risks of reoccurrence. Staff are helping young people to develop an awareness of their own safety and this knowledge is contributing to young people making reductions in their risk taking behaviours, taking into account their starting point on admission to the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Challenging behaviour is effectively challenged and incidents of restraint and sanctions are minimal. The Registered Manager is vigilant in her regular monitoring of the running of the home. This oversight ensures young people’s welfare is promoted, they are treated fairly and they are protected.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home is maintained to a good standard in communal areas and staff awareness of health and safety hazards promote good care. Recruitment and selection processes have improved. The organisation’s vetting procedures are adequate and helps prevent the employment of unsuitable people to look after young people. Visitors to the home are welcomed; they are however supervised and clear expectations of visitors ensure all young people are kept safe.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good .

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager is enthusiastic and committed to improving outcomes and meeting the needs of all young people in placement. The manager demonstrates a ‘hands-on’ approach to management and her leadership evidences a positive impact on raising standards within the daily operation of the home. The manager is well supported by the staff team and there is a commitment to achieve continuous improvement in outcomes for all young people.

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Leadership and management

There are checks in place for monitoring how the home is run, which include managers checks and external regulation 33 visits. Young people are helped to understand their progress and achievements with regular time with keyworkers.

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Leadership and management

The manager takes the necessary action to address the recommendations made by the monthly quality assurance visitor to the home. This contributes to improvements being made to the quality of care provided to young people. Senior managers are not sufficiently utilised to promote shared goals within the organisation however they do have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and a development plan shows how the home will continue to raise the standard of care provided to young people. Young people participate in opportunities to improve the standard of care.

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Leadership and management

The home has satisfactorily met the recommendation made at the previous inspection. Behaviour improvement plans have been implemented and are regularly updated.

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Leadership and management

The home works well with placing social workers, families and relevant local agencies to achieve the best outcomes for young people. Communication is very good and families and professionals are consulted about decisions and collaborative working ensure young people are well looked after. One social worker reported 'they are very good with families, involve them and work well to address issues'.

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Leadership and management

The home provides an experienced, enthusiastic, stable team of staff and young people greatly benefit from this continuity of care. A range of training opportunities are available to support staff in their development. Arrangements are in place for staff supervision and provision for the opportunity for reflective practice to ensure the staff team meet the needs of the young people placed effectively.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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